This episode is a cut above last weeks – doing everything right that last week’s did wrong: completing plot developments, humor, action, drama, the works. The traditional pep rally Pantherama is coming up and scouts are scouring the town trying to sign Panthers, and Smash in particular is receiving a lot of attention. With the pep rally quickly approaching Tammy passes off entertainment responsibilities to Tyra and Lyla. A bitter Julie writes a scathing article in the paper about Pantherama that divides the Taylor family, and for once Smash is Smash, Riggins is Riggins, Saracen is a new man and Street is absent.

With a game approaching Coach Taylor wants Santiago to make sure he is eligible and after some prodding he confesses to Tammy that his only guardian bailed on him. Coach wants Tammy to find a quick fix so Santiago can be ready to play, but Tammy is torn by the moral dilemma of rushing the placement just so the kid can play football. Buddy steps in and offers to let Santiago live with him – a touching gesture that is quite amusing when Tammy checks his refrigerator and says, “you have all steaks, gut some vegetables in here Buddy.” How long that will last is uncertain and the scandal brought on by the questionable practices toward Voodoo Tatum could rear their head in this circumstance as well. Can Buddy even pull this off?

Landry is weighed down by the guilt he feels over including his father in his murder cover up and tries to talk to Tyra who offers little support. While Landry does not get a lot of words in, it is clear that he is beginning to come apart at the seems – and the earlier episodes hard work in establishing Landry’s deep reservoir of guilt could come to fruition in the next episode for a serious dramatic payoff. What will happen to Landry?

In the midst of the recruiting fervor Smash and his Mom have a serious disagreement over the qualities Smash should be looking for in a school and Smash decides to push ahead alone. Smash keeps saying he wants to go pro and find the school that will provide the fastest route for him but it seems to fly in the face of reality – although talented Smash is way small for an NFL back. Mrs. Williams goes to see Coach and asks him to give Smash some guidance because Smash’s dad isn’t there to help him. Coach does, and whether or not Smash will follow Coach’s advice, and seek Coach’s advice in the future, remains to be seen. Will Smash end up at Miami Southern? I hope not, but the school’s fictional nature leads me to suspect that that might be where Smash chooses to go.

Riggins refuses to live with his brother when his ex, the neighbor, comes by. So Riggins goes to Tyra’s and asks for a place to crash. Despite getting along great with the other Collette women, Tyra wants Riggins out after 48 hours. It comes and goes and Tim is still there and finally Tyra’s sister says that she has a friend who will let Riggins stay there if he helps out around the house. Frankly this plotline received almost too much time. Does any of this matter? I hoped the show was just bluffing about his friend-of-a-friend thing, but Tim does check it out and it looks totally sketchy. The real question is, when is Tim going to get to play football again? And from this story arch, is he ever going to get back together with that neighbor? Is he over her and just being pigheaded? What is the deal?

Julie is still crushed over Matt and turns to the Newspaper editor and new English Lit professor Noah for counsel, and perhaps too much counsel. Noah is a new character in this episode, played by John From Cincinnati’s Austin Nichols. To make things worse, Julie is moping around because she sees Matt and his new girlfriend and gets jealous and breaks down into tears. Needless to say she is extremely vulnerable to a young professor who asks her to call him Noah and he is someone Julie totally looks up to – you can tell by her eyes. This looks to be another sketchy storyline for Julie, who the writers have going through the gauntlet. First The Swede, and now The Teacher, Julie must have a thing for older men. Or more likely, the writers do as both Tim and Jason and now maybe Julie and Matt have been or are in relationships with older partners. Why???

As already mentioned, Matt and his new girlfriend (Kim Smith) do some serious PDA in the hallway that crushes Julie. Of more use is Kim Smith’s knowledge of cars that helps Matt get a good deal on a used car he was looking to buy. The girl seems like an empty vessel – sure she looks great (she is a model), but she is WAY boring. Matt also learns some dance moves from Carlotta for Pantherama. **SPOILER** And as I have been predicting since forever, Matt finally crosses the line and kisses Carlotta. In the few minutes Matt and Carlotta have at the end of the show, it seems like they are both happy, and instead of awkward and frozen, it seems like they both want to do some more. Unclear what that really means because of all the older-younger relationships, this one seems to have the least amount of long term prospects. We shall see…

Friday Night Lights viewership has been growing the past couple weeks, giving hope that the show might survive the writer’s strike and live on for a few seasons. FNL will return on November 30th after taking a week off.

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.